Scammers Pose as Better Business Bureau Reps

The Better Business Bureau of North Alabama has been made aware of a scam using the BBB name. The Better Business Bureau in Upstate New York was alerted by an elderly woman who was harassed and convinced to send Google Play cards to two men from the New York area due to a purported error in her bank account. Upon sending payment, the consumer was contacted by a second person called “Linda”. The woman claimed to be with the Better Business Bureau and convinced the consumer that she could stop the harassing phone calls if payment was sent to her in the form of Google Play cards. The consumer sent $26,700 on Google Play cards to the phony BBB employee and was not contacted again.

What to do if you receive a call like this one:

Do not answer calls from numbers you do not recognize. If the caller is legitimate, they will leave a voicemail. Even if a scammer chooses to leave a message, you can take time to determine you’re interested instead of being put on the spot.

Be wary of recorded messages telling you to press a number to be removed from the call list. Since pressing a button confirms that you have a working number, it is best to hang up. If you do press the number prompted, your number will be placed on a list and sold to thousands of other scammers.

Some scammers may call and impersonate trustworthy businesses, charities or even government agencies. The best way to avoid these types of scams is by hanging up, looking up the organization’s phone number from a trusted source and calling back to directly speak to a representative.

Visit DoNotCall.gov and join the ‘Do Not Call Registry’ to help lessen the number of calls you receive. Joining the registry will not completely stop scammers, but you should receive fewer calls.

Source: Better Business Bureau of North Alabama

If you would like to report a scam, call your BBB at 256-533-1640 or go to the BBB Scam Tracker. To find trustworthy businesses, visit bbb.org.